1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to four wheel drive toy vehicles and specifically to such vehicles having moving tracks.
2. Background Art
All terrain toy vehicles, while having an obvious appeal, have been difficult to develop for commercial distribution since track vehicles tend to be too complicated and too dangerous for toy applications. This has led to the development of modified track vehicles such as the vehicle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,804 to Morrison and assigned to the assignee of this application, U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,623, and the references cited therein. That patent describes a toy vehicle having a track portion with an internal rack gear upon which a follower gear rides to move the vehicle forward. When the gear follower reaches the end of a flat portion of the track it causes the track to rotate to present a new flat portion for continued forward movement. The disclosure suggests that any number of track members can be used such as two at the front and two at the rear of the vehicle. However, the respective driving means shown for the front and rear of the vehicles are not independently powered but rather are powered by a common drive. In addition, the outward face of the elongated track is closed to retain the gear follower within the track itself.